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Bitcoin’s apparent creator identified, house promptly raided

Yesterday, US tech news sites Wired and Gizmodo published stories about their investigations into the identity of the creator of Bitcoin, known only as Satoshi Nakamoto.

The results of these investigations are not conclusive – and the publications admit this – but Wired and Gizmodo named an Australian academic and tech entrepreneur Craig Steven Wright as possibly one of the individuals who were responsible for the creation of  Bitcoin.

This morning, Wright’s home was raided by Australian authorities.

Cryptocurrency – the most well known being Bitcoin – is a now widely accepted currency which is generated and controlled by cryptography. It’s decentralised currency that’s not regulated by any official body and is completely dependant on the processing power of computers. In even more simplified terms: it’s money created from math done by PCs.

The origin of cryptocurrency (in its current, known form) seems to be a 2008 white-paper released by an entity that refers to itself as Satoshi Nakamoto. In the years between the introduction of that document and the trillions of Rands generated in cryptocurrency, the true identity of  Satoshi Nakamoto has never been uncovered.

The evidence connecting Satoshi Nakamoto to actual people include leaked documents from an anonymous source close to Wright, as well as publicly available information such as Wright’s blog, according to Wired and Gizmodo.

Both publications clearly state that all the evidence linking Wright to Nakamoto thus far is, while compelling, is tenuous at best. Despite this, Wright’s property was raided only hours after the stories went live.

According to The Guardian, more than 10 police personal arrived at a property in the Sydney suburb of Gordon to “clear the house”.

Here’s the real kicker: reports at the moment indicate that the raid had nothing to do with cryptocurrency, but is instead connected to an investigation by the Australian Tax Office.

At the moment, little is known for absolute certain as much of the evidence provided thus far cannot be verified (either due to the fact that it was supplied anonymously, or has since been deleted), as well as the authorities refusing to comment.

That being said, the timing of these events does seem awfully close…

[Sources – The Gaurdian / Wired / Gizmodo, Image – C.C 2.0 Antana]

 

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